It seems the top bosses at the major Danish newspapers all hear the change coming. In this Mediawatch.dk interview, they all predict that they’ll make more money from the Web than from print within three years.
Poul Madsen, chief editor of the tabloid Ekstra Bladet predicts that his paper’s print and online editions will earn equal revenue in 2009. After that, starting in 2010, he expects that the online side generate more revenue.
Similarly, editor in chief Lisbeth Knudsen of Berlingske (which runs several sites, including berlingske.dk and bt.dk) mentioned 2010 as the year when online will become more important to the business side of her organization.
And Jørgen Mikkelsen from the Jutland Post predicted that profits from their various online sites (jp.dk, epn.dk, fpn.dk, spn.dk, etc.) will exceed profits from the paper edition within three years.
Also, recently the regional newspaper Fyens Stiftstidende moved their three remaining journalists from their local radio station (Radio 3) to their Web site. “We’re certain that we can turn more online traffic into more revenue. Right now we have sold out all our advertising space,” says chief editor Per Westergaard.
Although this sounds extremely positive, the Danish market has always been a year or two behind the Norwegian and Swedish markets. If you’re looking for proof that it’s possible to make the change from paper to online and stay in business, take a look at this 68-page report from the Norwegian media group Schibsted. More than 20 percent of their sales revenues and more than 60 percent of their EBITA (earnings before the deduction of interest, tax and amortization expenses) profits come from online activities.
